May 9th, The 63rd Anniversary of “The Pill”
Above photo: One of the buildings where The Pill was invented in Shrewsbury, MA prior to approval by the FDA on May 9, 1960.
May 9th is such an ordinary day. It is neither a national holiday nor a day of religious significance. It is just another spring day leading toward summer, with green returning to trees and bushes alike, flowers offer their first bloom, and Little League baseball returns to the local diamond. Highlights of the day may include graduation ceremonies at various schools, while ballrooms may include junior and senior proms.
May 9th is also the anniversary of the contraceptive Pill (The Pill), approved as birth control by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was invented in Shrewsbury, MA, at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology.The Pill is possibly today’s most prescribed pharmaceutical, while the women prescribed The Pill are also likely the least informed in terms of the effects and dangers of this pharmaceutical. Considering that the Pill has been tried by as many as 94% of women for over sixty years, with them having little forehand knowledge, there has also been meager public discussion on its impact on the culture and its merits or failings.
To an unchallenged populace, The Pill represents control over reproduction with the promise of a better life. It’s timing of invention was some fifteen years after the technology of the atomic bomb was seen as having brought the end of hostilities by Japan without sacrificing many soldiers of the United States and its allies. Technology, it was argued, saves lives. The technological imperative was seen to serve the human imperative.
It seems that for many, only experience with artificial contraception affords the opening of the user’s mind to the disappointments entreated on the user. These disappointments manifest in the body, the emotions, and the spirit. Couples often say that pregnancy changes everything. Artificial contraception changes everything, too, but for the worse, with its distortions of truth.
The failings of artificial contraception are as varied as are the harmful consequences to the human person. These failings can even be deadly. To properly and fully document these failings to the individual by these contraceptives will require time and dedication on this website, going far beyond the scope of a single blog post. Look for follow-ups to come.
It is just as important to consider the resultant structures of sin that have changed a culture striving for a higher humanity where right makes might to the more animalistic might makes right.
Can this be attributed to the adoption and acceptance of artificial contraception alone? It is more likely weak faith formation and the temptation “to be like Gods” that all new technologies manifest is a more likely explanation. [NAB Genesis 3:5]
Experience of sin, such as turning to artificial contraception, can enlighten one to the truth, but usually only after a period of sorting out the consequences of sin:
1) Confusion of the intellect;
2) Malice of will;
3) Disorder of emotions and passions; and
4) Weakness, sickness, and death of the spirit and body.
We, Bearers of the Preborn Christ, believe that full knowledge of artifiical contraception, properly presented, can spare many people from falling into this practice while others may overcome the resulting negative consequences from contraceptive practice with practicing the virtues of:
1) prudence;
2) justice;
3) temperance; and
4) fortitude.
Reliable knowledge of and the distortions of truth associated with artificial contraception to the individual and in culture will be a point of an ongoing study in this blog and website.and death of the spirit and body.
Peace of Jesus in the womb of Mary be with you.
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